Andrew Bogut shows off 'monster' side in Golden State Warriors' win

OAKLAND -- As well as Andrew Bogut has played late in the season, coach Mark Jackson continued to say that Warriors fans still hadn't seen the real, fully healthy Bogut yet.

Sunday night, that all changed. Everybody got an eyeful of the Grade A Bogut, and Denver's Javale McGee got the closest view on a driving windmill power dunk right over his noggin in the first quarter, when the Warriors center established a tough, aggressive tone in a 115-101 victory.

The dunk was replayed numerous times on the Oracle Arena scoreboard, and each time, the capacity crowd let loose a deafening roar, eventually taking up a Bogut chant for the revitalized big man.

But Bogut had more in store — he wound up with four first half dunks and 12 points, and was his usual stingy self protecting the key.

"That's what he is when he's healthy — a monster," said rookie center Festus Ezeli.

Before the game, Nuggets coach George Karl said, "They have a personality without (David) Lee and with Bogut. He does the little things that coaches always say helps teams win. He sets illegal screens, he pushes guys around, tries to traunt and flaunt ... a little like I used to play. But I wasn't 7-1."

Jackson said Bogut has taken it upon himself, particularly with Lee out, to take on a greater leadership role.

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"This whole series, and especially when David went down, he realized it was do-or-die," said the coach. "We needed him to be special. We needed him to be the Andrew Bogut we traded for. Give him credit — he's done it. He's been mean, he's been nasty, he's played with our edge, he's been our enforcer. And I'm sure when he went up to dunk on McGee, he remembered McGee dunking on him. Just a big-time play by him."

Bogut was a little more nonplused about it.

"It was good to finally get some bounces go my way," he said. "It was a pretty big play for us, but at the same time, it was only two points. So I had to be careful not to get too caught up in the hype of the game. But it felt good."

The raw emotion he displayed, clenching his fists and screaming following his first dunk, definitely got the crowd going and his teammates fired up.

"Bogut was amazing," said Draymond Green. "He came out set the tone with some big dunks, but he also rolled to basket to get some key block shots, doing everything it took. It seemed he made all the right plays in the first half, and it was big for us. He got us going."

"Bogut is one of our leaders," said Carl Landry. "He's a captain, he's had playoff experience. When he plays like that, it makes us all want to go out and play tough and confident."

Bogut said he isn't feeling that much better physically, but the postseason has given him more emotional fuel.

"I'm OK, it's the playoffs," he said. "Everybody's a little banged up at this point in the year but you have a little more adrenaline."

Bogut played slightly less than 10 minutes in the second half and not at all in the fourth quarter and didn't score.

"He was fine, he wasn't tired at all," said Jackson. "We were getting good minutes from other players like Draymond. He did his job."